While there is a fight about AIG bonuses and who should blame who to get what, there is a fascinating article in The New Republic about how health care became a priority for this year and what it says about the importance Obama places on it.
Most of his advisors, except for Daschle, were against it being a part of the program for this year. But the one person whose opinion mattered the most was a chief defender and pusher of health care being on the budget this year and getting it done. Obama himself.
And health care, in the end, might have gotten pushed aside--except that one very senior official in the administration kept insisting that it stay on the agenda. That official was Obama himself. Repeatedly, the president made clear that he was not abandoning health care reform. There was the meeting in early January where he expressed disappointment with the budget numbers his advisers were showing him. And there was the Sunday after the inauguration, when Daschle found himself in the White House to meet with Rahm Emanuel. Daschle had requested the get-together in order to clarify the president's intentions on health care. During the meeting, which took place in Emanuel's office, Obama himself stopped by and reiterated to Daschle what he'd been saying in public: He was doing health care this year.
Geithner, Axelrod, Summers, and Orzag to a certain extent were weary of pushing the battle in his first year and worried about moderates who could kill the budget because of health care. The vacancy of Daschle after his tax problems made most of the administration against putting it in the budget. Obama rejected that logic and it became a part of the budget and a major focus of the administration.
This article is a must read in order to understand the dynamics of the White House and the players involved. It is fascinating the determination that Obama has for health care and making sure that it gets done even with the objection of the majority of his advisers. This is why this budget is so important and this is why we got to make sure it passes with the money for Health Care in it. This is important. This is something we need to fight for.
AIG is important. But it is not as important to me as health care getting a foot in the door to actually getting done.
Staying Alive